Broken innocence
by EmilieEvans
Summary: While Don and team try to solve a particularly hard case, Charlie meets a friend from a past. How will our favorite mathematician behave in a life-threatening situation? First time story, so be gentle. Last chapter up. Please, R&R!
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: Nothing you'll recognize belongs to me. It belong to great guys who created Numb3rs. I don't make any profit from this little writing. _

_

* * *

_ **BROKEN INNOCENCE**

**Chapter one**

In the darkness there was only one sound - a child was quietly crying. The black silhouette was coming closer and closer. The other two, Mom and Papa were lying on the ground after the stranger made some kind of horryfing noise, like he was opening a bottle of this champagne thing, Mom and Papa were drinking just a few days ago. They were happy then and they were smiling, but this was just scary...

The black man was really close now and the girl was petrified with fear. What will happen now? The same thing that happened to her parents? Will she lay there, not moving, not speaking, not nothing? Like her parents were now… Did that mean they were dead?

Girl knew what "dead" meant. Her parents told her some time ago, that her grandpapa died, but it was good death, natural. But they told her that there were people, bad guys, who might make her dead too, and that was wrong. And if she met someone who she thought might do it to her, she should do one thing.

Run.

So she ran

* * *

"… they found her running in the middle of night in downtown LA. Asked her a few questions but she seemed really traumatized so they had a psychologist talk with her, but the only thing she gave was her address. LAPD checked out the house. Found two people, man and women, murdered, gunshot to the head," Colby was filling Don in as soon as his boss showed up at the work. He met him right at the lifts and they were walking together through the office.

"What makes you think that that was connected to our case? It may have been just a robbery."

"I asked around. There were no money or jewellery missing. That family had just moved in there, they knew no one, it's hard to imagine they could already made such enemies in two weeks notice," Colby observed as his boss was nodding his head while they entered the kitchen. It was clear Don expected him to do all that if he wanted to draw his attention to that case. And Colby wasn't even finished. "And I checked with our resident brainiac as the last resort."

"And what is Charlie saying?" Don smiled, taking his coffee and sipping it. "Anything relevant?"

"You could say that. This attack fitted into the pattern Charlie had figured out for this case we're workin' on. It fits really nicely, young pair with little daughter, just moved in and no criminal connections whatsoever…"

"But this girl survived hasn't she?" Asked Don as they got into the conference room, where David and Nikki were already "Hi guys."

"Hey, Don. Yeah, the girl survived. I have even more," David said, shaking his hand and giving him a file with a picture of a little girl on top of it.

"Her name is Lilianne Waterman… OK, Dave, what do you got?"

"I just had a call from a medic who checked out this girl," David nodded in the direction of file, "Said she was quite okay, just tired from all the running. No wonder, she was found really far from her home, almost a mile."

"A four year old girl? Something must have scared her pretty badly," Don was reading the file, while listening to Dave. It took him about five second to realize something "David, you said she was pretty okay? Does that mean…"

"No signs of sexual assaults were visible on her. She was scared, but the medics think she weren't raped," The disgust was clearly seen on David's face, as well as on his co-workers'. They all hated the pedophile cases and this one was even worse, because the guy was killing all families, sometimes before, sometimes after raping the child. In the end they were all found dead.

"Thank God," Don sighed, "So she may in some time recover from all this."

"I don't know how she may ever recover from losing both of her parents and that thing…" Nikki was visibly shaken and strangely quiet. Don turned to her.

"Are you all right? If that's too much you may have a few days off," He offered her with a sad smile. It was the first case he saw her so emotionally attached. Nikki was usually very strong, but he always suspected there might be a moment when she'll move closer to her breaking point. It looked like he found out what it was.

"No, Don," She looked into his eyes with determination. "I want to see that bastard behind bars as soon as possible and you may need me to do that. So I am staying."

"Good," Don smiled a little, approving and even admiring her attitude, "We need as many hands as we can. Let's get to work."

* * *

"… Next week I'll tell you about Cardano's solutions to the cubic and quartic equations, although they're believed to be an idea of Niccolo Tartaglia. So I would like you to get ready for next week and find out some information about that fight. You may very well find out some of mathematicians were more hot-headed than you peers," The class bursted into laughter. "See you next week."

Charlie smiled proudly watching his class as they were leaving. Most of them were truly interested in math and attended his lectures on a regular basis. Nothing made him more happy than seeing his students learn to love and understand the complicated, yet so very logic paths of math.

"Professor Charlie Eppes?" Someone asked, entering his class. It was a women, about his age, maybe younger, with a little girl in a tow. She seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't put any name to this face. "I hope I'm not interrupting, I was told that you are now finished with your classes…"

"Yes…" Charlie still tried to figure out who that women was. "Yes, I am finished. Please, come on in," As she came closer, the little girl almost hidden behind her back, he noticed her brightly green eyes. Only one person he knew had eyes like that. "Monica…?" He managed to whisper.

"Took you long enough, Little Wizard," She smiled and crushed him in a hug. He laughed a little and returned the hug. As they broke off he shook his head, looking at her smiling eyes.

"I can't believe you remembered this nickname."

"I was the one who invented it, remember? And the things you were doing with numbers while we were at Princeton… That was pure magic," She laughed, the same tinkling laughter Charlie remembered that good.

"So, what are you doing here? Last I heard you were getting married somewhere back east."

"Yeah, well, we've moved a few weeks ago to LA, and I wanted to find out if my old friend will remember me after all those years… Looks like you remembered, after all," She smiled at him. "And I wanted you to meet my daughter, she's quite shy, but once she gets to know people, she can be a hell on a heels"

Charlie laughed a little at this. It was so like Mon, to come after all that years of silence, just to come and present her daughter. Monica's been always open and friendly but in her own, quiet way that compelled to Charlie and made them friends even though she was four years older than Charlie. She got to Princeton a year earlier than she should have, thanks to her intellect, but her fellow students didn't really accepted her, because she was at least one year younger than everyone else in exception, of course, of Charlie Eppes. Somehow she and Charlie ended up sitting together at one table in library and their friendship soon was a standing joke between students. But it didn't matter to them, because her openness and jokes helped Charlie open up a little to the world, and she often benefited from his "magic tricks" he had done with math.

Charlie smiled as he looked at the little one. She wasn't now hiding, she was looking curiously at the blackboard filled with algebraic equations left from the lecture. He crouched down next to her.

"What are you looking at?" He asked, curious, what the girl will answer him.

"Numbers. Like mom's. Are you a math guy too?" She asked, looking at him.

"Yes, I'm a math guy. My name's Charlie. What's yours?" He extended his hand and watched her little face beam with joy.

"I'm Molly, and I'm gonna be a math guy when I'll be big!" She exclaimed proudly, shaking his hand.

"That's great! I'm sure your mom is proud of you." Charlie smiled up at Monica, who was smiling happily at him. He got up "Maybe we'll move to my office, it'll be much more comfortable."

"Really? Mom, are you proud of me?" Molly demanded to know.

"All right." Monica took Molly's hand, who looked at her mother expectantly. "I'm really proud of you, my little angel" She kissed girl's head, who beamed at her happily. "Where is your office?"

"Just around the corner. And I think you should get ready to meet another old friend" Charlie smiled slyly.

"Another friend? Who else is teaching here?" She looked slightly nervous.

"Wait until you see. I doubt you could have forgotten him even if you tried to." Charlie opened the door to his office, where his friend and colleague was waiting. Man stood up and, though shocked, extended his hind in greeting.

"Of course" Monica said "Who could forget Professor Larry Fleinhardt?"

_End of chapter one._

* * *

_A/N: Hope you liked this little story. It'll have several more chapters, but I don't think it'll grow to big story - I'm not very good at writing yet. So, if you have some reflections, or you simply want to say you liked it or not - here's little button that says: "review". You know how to use it :D_

_Oh, and I'm sorry for some of my grammar mistakes, English isn't my native language but I'm trying my best to write correctly._


	2. Chapter 2

_Dislcaimer: Everything you recognize isn't mine. Everything that you don't is. Simple as that._

_Sadly, I don't own anything NUMB3RS - related, save for my undying love for certian sexy mathematician, and equally sexy FBI agent._

_

* * *

_**BROKEN INNOCENCE  
**

**Chapter two  
**

Molly was bored.

It wasn't like she was in a boring place. There were so many interesting things in Professor Charlie's office! She found some really funny-shaped things, that mom said were cones, cylinders, cubes and many others. Then she found really interesting thing with flat base and a gold something that was sticking out of it. It was so pretty, and Professor Larry said it was called sundial, and that you could say what hour was just by looking how the shadow of sun was travelling on that base. He also said a lot of things, but she couldn't understand most of it.

But now grown-ups were talking about their stuff and she knew she weren't supposed to interrupt adults when they were busy. But she was so curious about everything around here! She wanted to see more, learn more. So she decided to go for a little expedition. Molly looked at the grown-ups, they weren't looking at her, so she quietly opened the door and got out.

There were so many people! They were walking in every direction and Molly felt a little afraid, but she kept on walking and tried to avoid them, which was quite difficult. Some of those people noticed her and smiled and let her pass, but most of them were looking somewhere higher than she was, or they had their noses in books or they were so lost in their thoughts, that they wouldn't notice a pink elephant, not to mention a little girl. Molly giggled as she imagined a big, really pink elephant trying to fit into this rather crowded corridor. In this moment she saw a lady. She smiled as she saw her, then stopped walking and crouched beside her.

"What's so funny, my dear?" She asked. That lady had a very nice voice, Molly decided, she have to be a nice person.

"I think it would be funny if someone tried to fit here a pink elephant," She said resolutely and observed with pleasure how the lady bursted into laughter. It was nice, too.

"Why would elephant be here, angel? It's rather tight in here isn't it?"

"Maybe it got bored being in circus. Maybe it wanted to learn something in here? I bet some of this people," Molly indicated a student who nearly walked into wall, he was so lost in a book, "Wouldn't notice an elephant, even if he was here."

"You're completely right. And smart, I bet," The lady smiled. "But what are you doing here? Are you lost?"

"No, I'm here with my mom and she's busy talking with her friends and I wanted to…"

"Explore a little? And does your mom know about that?" She asked, a little twinkle in her eyes.

"Well… sort of... maybe…"

"Sounds like a "no" for me," Said lady, getting up and talking Molly's hand. "Let's get you to your mom and if she'll let we'll explore a bit more, okay?"

"Yeah! Thank you!" Molly smiled brightly. "What is you name, lady? I'd like to call you something in my head when I'm thinking about you…"

"Ditto, little angel. I'm Amita. What's your name?"

"Miss Amita… It's pretty! I'm Molly."

"Nice to meet you, Molly," Miss Amita was really, really nice, Molly decided. They were now going back to office. "Where is your mom, Molly?"

"In Professor Charlie's office. They are friends," Molly explained. She was a little startled to see a big smile on Miss Amita's face.

"Charlie Eppes?"

"Hm… Yes, that was his name. Do you know him, Miss Amita?"

The woman laughed out loud, walking hand in hand with a little girl. Some of the students looked at her with puzzled expressions. It wasn't every day that one of the professors was behaving so openly at the CalTech corridor. Even if it was Professor Amita Ramanujan.

"Yes, Molly, you could very well say that I know Charlie Eppes."

* * *

FBI headquarters were unnaturally quiet at this hour. Of course there was a sound of talks, ringing of the phones, and there was faint buzz of electronic coming from everywhere, but you would expect more from an ongoing investigation in such a case, thought Don, exiting the Assistant Director's office, where he filled his boss in about that investigation. Don sighed. It wasn't nice talk, but it was nearly impossible for the talk with AD to be nice, especially when he didn't have any real leads about this guy.

Don sat by his desk, browsing through his files, finding the photos of all the victims. Parents and little girls… All of them were leading their happy lives, and then suddenly this monster came out of nowhere and hurt them so much and then killed them all. What terrified Don most was the fact, established by a coroner after the third murder: this sorry bastard killed some of the parents after he was done with child. He bound them with rope and made them look at their child while he…

Don shook his head, trying to throw those images out of his head. It was really hard. Even his years of dealing with situations like that weren't enough.

The ringing of his cell shook him out of his reverie.

"Eppes."

"Don, you were right, no one saw anything out of ordinary around the house, Colby is looking into shops near here, Nikki talked to neighbors. No luck yet."

"Damn… How's Nikki doing?"

"A bit down, I'll say but she's holding up. We didn't let her into house until coroner took the bodies, and techs are entering just this minute."

"Very good, I'm gonna be with you in a few minutes. Charlie hasn't shown up, right?"

"Nope, he still have some classes, I think."

"Right, I'll get him later to headquarters. See you, David."

"See ya, boss."

Don hung up and looked at the files before him. In one, harsh move he threw all of them to the drawer, picked up his cell phone, took his jacket and walked to the lifts.

He had work to do.

* * *

It took Monica almost five minutes to notice that Molly had skipped out. She was so engrossed into that dispute with two of the greatest minds she's ever known, that she might have been oblivious to the fact that her daughter left the office, but their talk changed its course onto education of little children. When Monica, looked at the back of the office Molly wasn't there.

"Molly!" She exclaimed. "She's gone! How could I…"

"Relax, Mon," Charlie soothed her. "She couldn't have gotten far away. Besides, someone will notice a child walking alone around here, they'll bring her back."

"Unless they'll be on the other realm of consciousness, Charles. Don't forget we are in the Math Department, people here are known for their absence of mind," Interjected Larry, while Monica frantically got up and almost ran to the doors.

"Pot calling keetle," Muttered Charlie following Monica to the doors, which just opened and showed Molly and Amita, holding hands and smiling brightly.

"I believe you're looking for someone," Said Amita releasing Molly's hand and letting her run to Monica, who embraced her quickly and started scolding her.

"Where have you been? I've been worried sick! You could have lost, you could…"

"But I didn't, mommy. I just wanted to look around a little. And I met a very nice lady who said, that if you'll let me, she'll show me everything here!" Molly almost jumped with excitement.

"Not everything, Molly. It would take a lot of time," Said Amita, coming into the office and giving Charlie quick peck on the lips. "Hi, I'm Amita Ramanujan," She greeted Monica.

"Hello, I'm Monica Dawson," She returned the greeting, curiously looking from Amita to Charlie. She smiled brightly. "Thank you so much for helping me with that little scamp here," Monica indicated her daughter.

"I'm not a scamp!" Molly pouted. Amita smiled.

"No problem, we had wonderful time together, Molly is really sweet girl…"

Charlie and Larry looked at each other when women began talk at a very fast pace about Molly, children in general, then the moved onto their behavior and upbringing. Charlie tried several times to discreetly interrupt them with a cough, but he soon realized that nothing short of earthquake will stop them.

After some odd ten minutes, when Monica was telling Amita the story of her friendship with Charlie, Larry pried his fascinated eyes from the two women and looked again at his equally stunned colleague with expression of astonishment, admiration and fear on his face.

"We're doomed."

* * *

Scene looked as typical as any other would. Truthfully, if it wasn't for the police and FBI agents hanging around the detached house, no one would have guessed something terrible happened here. Yet, it have so Don and his team had to find out who did this, and, more importantly, keep him from doing it again.

"We're wrapped up here, Don," Colby came up to him. "Techs are moving all the evidence to the headquarters, and they're already cleaning up the place."

"All right, let's move it." Don took a last look around the house. Nothing out of ordinary, perfectly typical home with perfectly typical backyard and perfectly typical resident. Why them? Come to think of it, why anyone at all? Things like that shouldn't happen… Don ran a hand through his hair. Cases like this were messing up with his head. He had to be strong and hard, if he wanted to catch that guy.

Suddenly something caught his eye. On the other side of the road, there was some squashed grass and, when he looked closer, he found several butts, partially hidden under the grass and dirt.

"Colby!" He called the agent that was closest to him.

"What is it, Don?" Granger asked and soon realized what his boss was observing. He saw Don's eyebrows raising in question, but he shook his head. "I don't think it was anyone of ours and the onlookers were standing out there, closer to the house," Colby indicated the direction with a wave of his hand. "You think…"

"Yep, I think. We've got ourselves a rapist, who stalked his victims for at least several hours."

"Maybe even more," Added Colby. "Maybe he was following them around to work or kindergarten…"

"Could be. Come on, lets get techs into it. Maybe they'll even give us a footprint. And we're going back to headquarters."

"Are you getting Charlie?"

"Yep, it's high time for him to show up and give us another math lesson."

"To think that after high school I vowed to avoid math for the rest of my life…" Sighed Colby resigned.

"Didn't worked out for ya, did it?" Put in David, as they all met by the car. "All right, I'll shut up now," He raised his hands in defeat after seeing murderous look Colby was giving him.

"Would you please shut it? I'm trying to call now…" Don dialed his brother's number. "I so hope he'll have some ingenious idea we won't be even able to understand…"

* * *

After another ten, or twenty minutes, while the women somehow managed to change their topics to houses, then to recent movies, then to (completely abstract) dresses and sales in the markets, and the men's thoughts changed their topics from homicidal to suicidal, the phone rang. Charlie almost broke a leg getting to his desk, where he left his cell phone. Somehow, the ringing of the phone broke up the women's chatter and they were watching him curiously.

"Hello?... Yeah, hey Don… Sure, Colby talked to me about that, it's really good that she escaped… Well, yeah, I can come and look at the data, maybe I'll find some factors that'll help me to narrow down next possible targets… Okay, I'll be there in, like, twenty minutes… Bye."

"What happened, Charlie?" Amita looked at him with worried eyes. She knew about the case he was working on for several weeks now, and she didn't liked it at all. It made Charlie remember very bad things – he wasn't really sleeping, he was obsessed with finding this monster.

"Another attack. But this time the girl survived," Charlie smiled sadly. "Don wants me too look at the data he collected at the crime scene… I'll have to leave soon." He threw an apologetic look to Monica. "I'm sorry that we'll have to cut our reunion short, but it's really important."

"All right, I understand…" Monica shook her head. "No, I don't understand. What are you doing? I thought you…"

"I'm an FBI consultant," Charlie explained, while collecting his things. "My brother is an agent and we've worked together on many various cases. But this one…" He looked disgusted. "It's terrible. I want it to end as soon as possible, so that guy wouldn't hurt people…" He indicated Molly with a nod of his head. Monica paled, as if she saw a ghost. "…anymore than he already had."

Monica just nodded her head and looked at her daughter, who was at the other end of the office, with a fright in her eyes.

"Don't worry Mon. Nothing will happen, I promise," Charlie walked up to her, hugged her and smiled a little. "Cheer up, this is a happy occasion, now that we've met." She smiled an unsteady smile.

"You'll have to visit me and Matt sometime. You too," She turned to Amita and Larry. "He'll be delighted to meet you, as well as Molly," Real smile this time. "She certainly likes you all."

"That's good, because we like her too," Said Amita.

"We most certainly will, Monica," Interjected Larry, as Charlie gave Amita a kiss, shook Molly's hand and started walking towards door. "Hey, Charles, wait up! I'll come with you! Don't you leave me for such a gruesome fate of being deafened again!"

All three women giggled.

_End of chapter two._

* * *

_A/N: Aw... that's so sweet to have reviews! I'm really glad you liked this, and I hope, you'll stay around to read more. Thank you!  
_


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: NUMB3RS don't belong to me, but to it's wonderful creators. I don't gain anything form this writing, so please, don't sue me! _

_

* * *

_**BROKEN INNOCENCE**

**Chapter three  
**

Charlie entered the conference room at the FBI headquarters with an uneasy feeling. He loved helping his brother with his work and was amazed at the closeness that gave them. But this case was different. It made him different. Always stubborn, now he became obsessed about solving this case. He wanted, he needed to find that guy and make him pay for everything he's ever done to other people, especially those girls. He remembered the other case that gave him similar feeling – the case of Derreck Lamberg, the drug dealer who was abusing his own daughter. It was the first time in Charlie's when he actually wanted to kill somebody. Now, he realized, he felt the same way, although it wasn't because he felt guilty of abandoning his childhood friend, Jessica. No, he just wanted that son of a bitch to be punished, and hard.

Charlie went quietly to the table, looking at the photos of the crime scene, that David's been presenting to Colby and Don on a big screen. It wasn't for another half a minute, that anyone of them realized he was already here. It was Don, actually, who took a look around the room and spotted his younger brother sitting near the doors and watching intently the photos

"Hey, Charlie, I haven't heard you coming in," He said, a bit puzzled.

"I didn't want to disturb you… Do you have anything specific about that case?" Charlie asked, motioning to the screen. "Anything unusual?"

"Nope, just another ordinary family," Colby went to him and handed a fat file. "It's almost everything we could find about those people. Nothing stands out."

"And we didn't really expected it to," Sighed David. "Perfectly normal… What drives a man to abuse and kill some random, absolutely typical families?"

"That's what we're gonna find out," Don turned to Charlie. "What do you got for us?"

"All right. Firstly, you must understand that his choosing of location is nearly perfectly random."

"Nearly perfectly… random? Weren't that you who told us nothing can be truly random?" Colby sounded really interested in that.

"Well, what I meant, was that I couldn't find any pattern, according to which, the killer choose some houses and then observed them in order to find what he wanted."

"A young pair with little daughter," Intersected Don.

"Exactly. And it doesn't mean I couldn't come up with some algorithm, but that would probably be useless. So I tried to approach it a bit differently," He opened his laptop and opened several files that were full of information about the previous victims. "On the one side I'll take every bit of information we have on the victims and I'll try to create a threat assessment for all the young couples with daughters that have recently moved into LA and the area. On the other, I'll try to gather and analyze all the info we've got on the killer – where exactly he attacked, what time of a day it was, everything. For example, we know he attacked the families that moved into their houses recently. It's possible that guy has some access to information about sold houses, maybe he even is a real estate agent."

"Good. You think that'll work?" Don looked at his brother expectantly. He was a bit startled to see a grim look on Charlie's face.

"It'll have to."

* * *

Alan Eppes was worried about his sons. It wasn't really a new feeling: he learned to live with the ever-existing fear for his older son, Don, very long time ago, since he decided to become a cop. But lately Alan had some vague feeling about his younger son. Charlie, although over thirty, in some aspects was still very naïve and innocent. Something however changed, that occupied his mind and made him… well, different. Even Alan, who knew his son inside out, couldn't exactly pinpoint the exact cause of his uneasiness. He knew something was wrong.

That was why he was really relieved to see both of his sons coming home that evening. They were tired and hungry – but nothing was wrong as far as Alan could see. Except, of course, the fact that Charlie nearly fell asleep over his plate of lasagna, which caused Don to make some snide remarks about the quality of their dad's cooking.

"He's wearing himself out, don't you think?" Alan asked Don as soon as Charlie has gone to bed.

"We're all working very hard on that case," Don's face clearly shown all the exhaustion. "Charlie included. But that's the way it works, especially now…"

Alan was surprised to see Don at lost with words and watched him carefully as his son groaned in frustration and ran a hand through his hair.

"You're really tired too, Donny. Go get some sleep."

"Okay, Dad. Can I crash here tonight? I don't want to fell asleep behind the steering wheel…" Small smile.

"Sure. Goodnight, Donny."

"Night, Dad."

It pained Alan to see both of his sons so exhausted that they dared to show that. Both of them were a bit withdrawn when it came to expressing what they felt. It was different today, they were so exhausted that they weren't able to hide that. But all the while he could see something that will give them the strength to wake up in the morning and get on that case – real determination, need to end it once and for all.

Alan shook his head slightly as he watched slightly snoring Don who was lying on the couch. Determination, indeed. David was right the other time: he had two very stubborn kids.

And he wouldn't have them any other way.

* * *

The next two days were frantic. The FBI team worked hard with almost no rest. As for Charlie, he did all he could, he worked even during his breaks in teaching, which almost caused him to forget about his classes. He didn't have also time to renew his friendship with Monica, save for a few short calls, during which they talked mostly about math. He even promised her he'd borrow her an interesting book, which could be a chance for them to meet, but he soon found out it was impossible for him to lie down on his work – it consumed him all.

Luckily Amita was there for him, she kept on watching him, reminded him of eating and raised his spirits. Occasionally, she would come up with some bright ideas he could adopt into his analysis. But it took a lot of time. An time wasn't something they could waste.

"I'm worried," Amita watched the list of potentially endangered families.

"About what?" Said Charlie, eating his lunch – it was one of a few breaks he let himself take.

"When could he strike next? You worked out this algorithm, I know, it predicted the attacks before, but now things changed."

"How so?"

"He didn't accomplish what he came for," Amita gave Charlie serious look. "It may cause him to want… I don't know, some kind of revenge? He may be driven to do it again, this time maybe quicker, more brutal…"

"It's a possibility," Charlie nodded. "So we don't have any more time to waste. How are you doing on the families?"

"There are several dozens of them… And all of them in danger! It's so frustrating…" Amita suddenly stopped, gaping at the screen of her laptop.

"What is it, Amita?" Charlie was concerned. She looked really scared.

"Come… Take a look," Amite showed him the screen. "Here, right in the middle."

Charlie looked. What he saw, scared him. On the list of threatened people there were clearly seen the names: _Matthew and Monica Dawson_.

* * *

"I don't know what I can tell you, buddy," Don sighed. When Charlie called him a few minutes ago he was on a verge of panicking. He now sounded calmer, but he was still nervous. "I understand that they have shown up on your list, but aren't there many other names? It isn't very likely that'll be them, buddy."

"I know, but I can't help feeling nervous. Those people… Monica was my best friend at the college, and Molly… I wish you met her, she's a great kid…"

"Charlie, please calm down," Don could feel that Charlie could break down any minute. He had to do something, take some action, that'll calm him. "Listen, buddy, send me everything you've got right now. All the names, possibilities… We'll analyze them from our, criminal point of view, and if there'll be such a need we'll send a patrol to your friend's house, okay?"

"Yeah… Thanks, Don. I just feel like I should bloody do something!"

"Listen, it'll be okay. You just calm down and send me those information. I'll take care of that, okay?"

Don didn't know what else he could do. Luckily Charlie seemed to calm down. His voice was calm and business-like. It triggered something in Don's mind, but he was too busy to think about that.

"Right. I'll send them in a minute. Take care, Don."

"See you, buddy."

* * *

When Charlie put down the phone, he wasn't nervous at all. Amita wondered at this change: one second he was rambling to Don about the danger Monica and her daughter were, the next he was calm and calculated. It seemed like he made some decision.

"Are you okay?"

It took Charlie a few seconds to answer.

"Yeah… I think I'm good…" Suddenly he looked at her with a new force. "Amita, I have to ask for a favor."

"What is it?"

"Could you send Don all the information we've got? All about the endangered families?"

"Sure, but why?"

"Don promised they'll look at them from their point of view. It may give us a hook." Charlie said, while searching through his shelves. When he found what he wanted - the old-looking book - he met Amita's eyes. They were full of concern and confusion.

"All right. Not that I'm complaining, but why can't you send it?"

Charlie raised his hand in which he kept the book. Amita recognised the title - it was the one Charlie promised to borrow to Monica.

"Because I'm going to Monica's house."

* * *

Don and his team were working on the information that Charlie send them. Truthfully, it was send from Amita's e-mail, but they didn't stop to think about that. They were too busy analyzing the files, the locations of the houses, traffic density, possible escape routes – everything that may have affected the killers plans about who to attack.

"I think I've got the one," Nikki said, presenting her file. "It's got the best escape routes and observation points… It's perfect."

"Okay, Nikki, good job," Don took a look at the file and made a somber face. "Anyone else?"

"This looks quite good, but I wouldn't really choose it." Colby said waving his file. "And rest of them are junk."

"Same here, Don. Nothing worth considering." David looked at his boss' face. "What is wrong?"

"This people…" Don motioned to the file Nikki was still holding. "Are Charlie's friends."

He quickly dialed his brother's number and raised his cell to his ear.

The dead signal was all he got.

_End of chapter three._

* * *

_A/N: Don't we all love cliffhangers! _

_Thanks guys for you reviews, they warmed up my heart. I'll try to post the next chapter soon, but real life (and geometry test) are getting into my way. Gah!  
_


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: sadly, I don't own NUMB3RS. I'm just having fun with those fabulous characters. Please, don't sue me!_

_A/N: Finally, the next chapter. Sorry for the delay. Here you go:  
_

* * *

**BROKEN INNOCENCE**

**Chapter four**

Charlie nervously drove through the city to Monica's house. At first he wasn't thinking about anything else than getting there and checking if she and Molly were safe. But after ten minutes, as he was stuck in the traffic jam, he realized that he had to consider his possibilities. He'll get there and then what? What he'll tell them? That they are in danger? Or he will just pretend that he came over just to loan her that book he took specially for that purpose? And if so wouldn't it be convenient for them to know he's coming over?

Charlie smiled a little. He was previously so engrossed in his work that he forgot about the common politeness. He took his cell phone to call Monica and let her know he was coming over. But then he saw something unsettling: his battery was dead.

"Darn," He shook his head. It seemed he forgot to load his phone, he was way too busy for that. Charlie decided he'll go there uninvited and will check on them. Maybe he will call Don from their place, just to see if his brother found anything.

He drove on, as the traffic slowly moved forward.

* * *

Something was wrong, Don could clearly feel it.

When he realized that Charlie couldn't pick up his phone he immediately decided to call Amita, but was interrupted, as someone bursted into the room.

"We've got him!" Agent Romero from Crimes Against Children Office shouted, waving a file he had in his hand. "We know who he is, his name is Nicolas Sandler. And there's possibly been a sighting…"

"What? Where?" Don demanded.

"Somewhere in Silver Lake, here, there's an address," Romero showed Don his files. On the top of them there was an address. Don sighed, frustrated.

"What is it, Don?" Asked concerned Nikki.

"Not far from Dawsons' home… Are there any other possible targets in the area?"

Don's team rushed to check their notes.

"Nope, nothing from Silver Lake," Colby threw all his papers back at the desk.

"Same here, Don."

"Nothing," Nikki shook her head. "Looks like he won't wait much now…"

"I know…" He noticed Romero's confused look. "My brother's been working on a possible list of his next targets and it looks like he's just going to attack again."

"I see. Then we'd better move it," Romero looked serious. "In these files you've got all the information on the guy."

Don took a look at the files as his team rushed to call backup and organize the action.

"Good, thank you… How did you find him, anyways? It's been killing us for a long time to get anything on him."

"I guess we've been lucky," Romero smiled. "One of our youngest agents got an idea that this guy could have been a victim of an abuse, since it's been happening that a victim followed the steps of the molestor. So, we cross-referenced the photos of the victims, with our descriptions of that guy and… we found a match, confirmed by witness."

"So, that mean, this man has been abused too?" Don looked quite shocked. "Why on earth would he do that to other children?"

"Could be many reasons. Psychologist may have a better idea, so I suggest you talk to them about it."

"Right," He looked back at his team. "Are we ready?"

"Yeah, Don, everything is set," David ended his call. "The team should be there in fifteen minutes, so we can go right now."

"Great, let's move."

Don patted Romero's shoulder who gave him thumbs up.

"Good luck, guys."

"We'll certainly need it," Don muttered as he ran to the lift.

Finally, he was taking some action.

_I just hope Charlie is safe…_

* * *

"Hi, how can I help you?" Charlie was welcomed by the door by a young woman in her twenties.

"Hi, I'm Charlie Eppes, I'm a friend of Monica's. Is she home?"

The girl shook her head.

"No, she and Matt are gone. They're making some trip to the mountains. I'm babysitting their daughter right now."

"All right…" Charlie wondered what should he do now. Enter the house? Stay outside and probably keep an eye on Molly? He really had no idea. But luckily his problem was solved by Molly, who showed up and smiled brightly at him.

"Professor Charlie! Hi!" She swung herself at him and hugged him tightly.

"Hi, Molly, how are you?" Charlie hugged her back, happy to see her all good.

"I'm great! Are you going to come in? I'd like to talk to you about so many things… "

"If it's all right with your babysitter."

"Debbie, and I think it's okay, Molly seems to like you" The girl intersected.

"Great. Thank you, Debbie," Charlie shook her hand. "Come on, little math guy, show me what do you have for me."

Molly beamed at him and led him to the living room, where she had some books. Soon they were engrossed in their talk and Debbie, who watched them could barely keep herself from laughing as the professor and the little girl talked about math and its application to real life.

After about half an hour Molly decided to go up to her room to get some books she wanted to show Charlie. When she left Charlie and Debbie talked a little about this little girl and about Debbie's personal interactions with math.

"I was never really good at it, but I wasn't really terrible. It's just math isn't really fascinating for a girl in her teens when the lecturer is boring, old man, and there are loads of pretty boys around."

"True enough," Charlie smiled and looked at his watch. He frowned and looked up, where Molly disappeared. Debbie noticed his look.

"Right, she's been gone for almost ten minutes. I wonder, what is taking her so long…"

"I'll go check up on her. I bet she's just engrossed in one of her books."

Debbie smiled.

"She's really is a smart girl. I sometimes even envy her brains…"

They both laughed.

While Charlie was walking up the stairs, he heard someone knocking on the doors. Suddenly, an unexplained fear gripped him and he almost ran the rest of the way to Molly's room. He spotted her sitting on bed with a book on her lap and motioned to her to stay quiet. Then he listened carefully. He heard someone talking with Debbie and then a quiet, but unmistakable sound – a gunshot.

_I didn't call Don_, was the only thing on his mind.

* * *

Colby drove the SUV, for what Don was very grateful. He couldn't imagine himself driving in such a state he was in: all nervous and itchy. After the short talk with Amita, who told him that Charlie has gone to Monica's house, he couldn't wait to get there. He hoped that somehow it will all resolve as a big mistake and his brother wouldn't be in danger anymore.

"Calm down, Don," Nikki observed him, as he tapped his fingers nervously. "Everything will be okay."

"Yeah, Don, Charlie will be all right."

"I hope so, David."

Don looked at his team: Nikki's concerned look, David's supporting smile and Colby's slightly amused grimace, as he looked away from the road.

"Whiz Kid isn't the one to get blown away, Don. If he'll have to face something unexpected he'll hold it up… to the moment we'll arrive to help him."

Don smiled a little. His team was really incredible.

But it didn't loosen the tight knot in his stomach.

* * *

It took Charlie almost a minute to come to senses, overcome the shock and start thinking about the best strategy to come out of this home with Molly safe and sound. His mind whirled as he thought about possibilities…

Meanwhile, he signaled to Molly to come closer to him and to be quiet. She closed her book and silently tiptoed to Charlie, fear written all over her face. She clearly didn't know what was going on, but the sudden silence and the seriousness of Charlie's behavior caused her to be afraid.

Professor crouched down beside Molly and whispered:

"Molly I need you to be brave now, okay?"

He waited for the girl to shook her head.

"You need to be as silent as possible. Is there any attic in this house?"

Molly shook her head yes again.

"Okay, hide there and try to keep quiet. Don't go out unless I come for you, you got it?"

Charlie's face softened as the little girl shook from fear.

"What is going on, pfessor?" She whispered.

"I'll tell you later, little math guy," He managed to make her smile. "Now, go."

She escaped. Charlie observed her, all the while listening to the sound coming from the floor below. It seemed that the intruder was searching for the girl in the kitchen now, but he'll soon move up. He needed another plan.

Sending Molly to the attic was a simple move, but it could buy them some time. Charlie assumed that this guy had witnessed a lot of the children escaping from him. The child's bedroom was the most likely place for them to hide, since they felt safe in there. As far as Charlie knew, the attic was the least likely one, because most children were afraid of it. Of course, it got them away from the front doors, but Charlie was beginning to understand there wasn't much chance for them to get away and avoid the confrontation.

For now, he moved to the Monica and Matt's bedroom. He assumed the guy would check Molly's bedroom first. It still bought him some time.

Charlie looked around. He could clearly hear the footsteps now, the intruder was walking up the stairs. It took him a while to realize that he began shaking and sweating: the first signs of the panic.

_You can't let Molly down. You have to stay strong for her. Think of some way to save her!_ He started to repeat those words in his head over and over. He calmed himself down a little, but still was fairly nervous. Charlie tried to think about his next move, which was hard because he knew, that there was a murderer just a few feet away from him, looking through Molly's bedroom. Then he heard the footsteps again. They're coming closer to the place where he was hiding. He looked frantically around, then an idea popped in his mind.

The window.

Charlie rushed to the window and saw what he already suspected: the roof wasn't sheer, he could stand on it without much of a danger of falling down. He climbed out the window and closed it behind him, leaving it ajar. As soon as he hid on the one side of the window, the man entered the bedroom.

He was never so scared in his entire life. He hold his breath, but was sure that his heartbeat was so loud, that everyone could hear it. It took several minutes for Charlie to get his guts and dare to look inside the room. It was now empty, looked like the guy has moved to the other rooms.

Charlie got into the room in a instant. Had he waited few seconds more he would notice the familiar black SUV…

* * *

"What was that?"

"What, Nikki?" Don snatched his head. Nikki was looking outside the window of the SUV, as they parked by the Dawson's house.

"There, on the roof… I think I saw something…" Nikki shook her head. "Nevermind, I must have seen wrong."

"Okay. Let's have spotters keep an eye on the house, if the family is here, we'll organize for them to get moved…"

* * *

Unfortunately there was no phone in the bedroom, but Charlie clearly remembered that there was a phone downstairs. He needed to call Don, let him know what was going on here. He peeked out through the doors and he saw nothing. So he ran to the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible. But when he was halfway down the stairs he heard the muffled voice, coming from the attic.

"Here you are, little one… It looks like there's just you and me."

Charlie's blood ran cold. His jaw tightened. His fists curled up. He found Molly!

Without even a conscious decision he ran up, not even bothering about staying quiet. He bursted into the attic, took a quick look around and what he saw made him more angry than he's ever been: The man was holding Molly, her dress was ripped, as she tried to escape him. Charlie attacked the man with his bare hands, running into him andknocking him out of balance.

The man fell, dropped Molly, who quickly ran to the corner, but quickly got up. He looked much more brawny than Charlie and presented his muscles as he gripped the slim mathematician by his arm.

"And what do we have here? A noble protector?" His laugh was harsh, as he aimed his fist and swung it at Charlie's head. He, however dodged, kicked him in the knee. Then in a split second he remembered an advice he was given by Don: "_Just kick him in the nuts._" So he did just that.

As the murderer was recovering from the pain, Charlie took a look around. Molly was hidden behind some furniture, and a few boards, but he couldn't get to them without passing by the guy, who was now standing, albeit quite unsteady.

"That's all you're capable of, whimpy?" He snarled and looked the way Charlie was. "Oh, no… Thought you could hit me in a head? You're not getting that chance."

As the guy came closer, Charlie spotted something that could be his only chance: there's been a gun lying on the floor, quite near Charlie, covered by one of the boards. This man must have had dropped it when the mathematician attacked him.

_How do I get here? _Charlie tried to think of some way to save themselves from the seemingly inevitable: while Charlie tried to get away, the man gripped him by neck and started to strangle him.

It was never so hard to think before: the cloud of pure panic filled Charlie's mind, as he fell down on the floor, the man following him and kneeling over him to finish his job. Nevertheless, the professor had an idea: although it was harder and harder to breathe, he tried to move near the stack of boards. Somehow, he managed to move about a feet away from the boards, concealing his movements by ineffective efforts to get away from the murderer. Doing it, he felt that he harmed himself: there was a pain in his shoulder and in his chest and in the back of his head, which pained him particularly hard when he bounced his head on the floor. All the while, he couldn't breathe at all.

He tried to reach to the gun, but unfortunately, he couldn't move anymore. The power that kept him going was gone and he couldn't help but surrender to the other man's force. The only thing he could see now was his murderer's face with a big, toothy smile on it, as he strangled him harder and harder.

Suddenly the grip on his neck vanished. Charlie's hazy mind managed to register that and made the quickest possible decision: take advantage of that situation. Despite the horrible pain, Charlie dashed himself to the stack of boards, found and picked up the gun. He whirled, spotted the man, who stood still, holding his head, seemingly confused. In the split of second Charlie noticed Molly, who must have thrown something at the murderer.

And then, Charlie fired.

_End of chapter four._

* * *

_A/N: And? Good enough? I hope this was worth waiting a while... If it was, let me know!_

_It was probably the most complicated scene I've ever wrote. I kept playing it over and over in my head, and this is the final effect. I'm still not very happy with the outcome, but I guess it's the best I could manage..._


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: NUMB3RS belong to CBS, not me. Please, don't sue me._

_A/N: This one really took me a while, but well.. that's reality. I hope you'll like it :D  
_

* * *

**BROKEN INNOCENCE**

**Chapter five**

It took spotters quite a while to notice anything: the house seemed to be deserted. But after a few minutes, Don heard one of them, talking through the walkie-talkie.

"I think we've got something, boss."

"What is it, Davidson?"

"There's woman lying quite near front door, probably dead."

"Anything else?"

"Mick noticed some movement in the attic window, but said it could be a mistake, cause it's small and dirty…"

"Right, I suppose it's high time for us to go in," Don looked at his team. "Get ready."

They responded in unison:

"Yes, sir."

But suddenly something happened that changed everything. They heard two shots coming directly from the house they were standing in front of. Don yelled frantically:

"Shots fired! Into the house, now! Execute!"

He ran.

* * *

Before his mind registered what had just happened, Charlie had his lap full of scared six years-old girl. He hugged her tightly, while she began to cry softly.

"Who's that, professor Charlie?" She asked through the sobs.

"Bad guy, Molly," Charlie couldn't quite take in everything that was around him right now. He had to console a little girl, he heard some shouting inside the house, and the most important he needed to understand what he just did.

_I killed a man._

Never in his life he suspected that anything like would happen to him: it was Don's life, shooting and being shot at. He never accepted the possibility of him killing a man as a probable one, he didn't even thought much about Don killing on the line of his job. Charlie couldn't really understand what happened and what ramifications it will have on him.

"Professor Charlie?" Molly was watching him, while he broke out of his reverie. "There's somebody in here…"

"Yeah, I hear them," Charlie could now clearly hear all the shouts 'clear!' beneath them. They were quite comforting: somehow Charlie understood that his brother was here. "Come on, let's meet them."

Charlie stood up shakily with Molly still in his arms. Although he was really weak and everything hurt him, he couldn't let Molly go – not until he'll be sure that she is completely safe and taken care of. He slowly made it to the door and began weakly descend the stairs. Then, he saw a bunch of FBI agents: some of them raised their guns when they noticed him, but they quickly recognized him and smiled in greeting.

"Boss! They're here!" One of them shouted and soon Don came up to meet them.

Charlie walked slowly to him, as Don nearly ran.

"Are you okay, buddy?" He asked nervously.

Charlie just nodded. He couldn't articulate a word. He used all his strength to block away the pain, but couldn't help but twitch a little when Don tried to support him: unfortunately his brother touched his hurt arm. Almost inaudible whine escaped his mouth.

"Yeah, I can see, you're really okay," Don said sardonically. "Let me take her, okay?" He indicated Molly.

Charlie slowly nodded his head and whispered something to little girl. She clung to him tighter, but after a while she loosened her grip on Charlie's neck and allowed Don to lift her.

"Hi, Molly, I'm Don," He greeted her with small smile.

"Hi" She whispered.

Charlie was relieved to see that Molly could trust other man after what nearly happened to her before. Confident now, that his little protégée was safe in his brother's arms he finally let all the tiredness and pain took the tool on him. Up until now he was blocking all his feeling for Molly's sake: he needed to bring her to safety. But after accomplishing that mission, Charlie gave up.

Darkness overwhelmed him.

* * *

Although Don imagined all the possible outcomes of the situation, he wasn't ready to accept what he was seeing at the moment. His little brother, pain clearly written all over his face, his eyes haunted with visions Don didn't even wanted to understand, hold the little girl in his arms, protecting her as if his life depended on it. It wasn't until he saw his older brother that his expression softened, and only when Molly was safely in Don's arms he relaxed completely and fainted.

"Charlie!" Don shouted, seeing his brother collapse. He couldn't help him having arms full of girl, but fortunately it was the moment when rest of Don's team showed up. They rushed to Charlie at once and Colby managed to catch his head before it bumped into floor.

"I've gotcha, man," He whispered, then looked at Don. "What's happened, Don?"

"I've got no idea… He just collapsed."

"Probably gone through a lot," David interjected. "Have you found this Sandler guy? And who was shooting?"

"No idea, again," Don heaved a sigh. "Okay, Dave, you and Nikki go check on the attic, that's where Charlie came from, you two," Don indicated two of agents who roamed through house, "Go, bring paramedics. At once!"

"Yes, sir," They saluted him. Nikki and David also left, carefully ascending the stairs.

"How is he, Colb?" Don crouched beside his brother, Molly still in his arms.

"Still unconscious. Has some blood on him, probably broken arm, and this," Colby indicated Charlie's neck. "Will look ugly in a few minutes."

"What do you mean?" Don couldn't really see what his agent meant.

"Seen this many times in combat. Someone tried to choke him, but hopefully, all he'll be left with will be lots of ugly bruises," Colby looked at his boss, startled to hear him gasping.

"Some… Son of a… Tried to kill him?"

Colby nodded.

Don couldn't believe his ears. This man, this monster wanted to kill his brother? For what? For being here? Defending a little girl?

This brought his thought to Molly, who was sitting in his lap, staring disbelieving at Charlie. She looked at him and whispered:

"Will professor Charlie be all right?"

"I hope so, Molly," He answered. "He's very stubborn, so I guess he'll come out of it."

She nodded her head and hugged him tight. Colby stared at him a bit incredulously, but the smiled and shifted his attention back to Charlie, protecting him from any movement, so he wasn't hurt any more than he already was.

_Very stubborn indeed. Seems like it runs in family… Hang on, mate… The help is on it's way and then everything will be alright…_ However Colby knew, he couldn't be sure about it. He looked up, in direction of attic. _What the hell happened up here?_

Colby met Don's eyes and recognized the same question in them.

He felt the answer wasn't a good one.

* * *

David lead the way, feeling Nikki right behind him. They slowly ascended the stairs, reached the doorsand then carefully Nikki opened them, while David burst into room, seeking any source of movement, anything that could present any danger to them.

"Look!"

At first David didn't realized what Nikki has been pointing out. Then he saw it: the man was lying on the floor, in the pool of blood, presumably his own. Even from their spot they could see the man was dead – it looked like he was shot directly to the heart.

They both advanced, amazed, trying to figure out what had happened here.

"I.D.?" Nikki managed to whisper.

David took a look at the dead man. His face was visible, even though a menacing expression distorted it.

"Positive. It's that guy."

Nikki sighed with relief.

"It's over…"

"Yeah…" David could sympathize. He saw how Nikki was shaken by this case. Then something hit him. "Though it's not really the end. You understand what must have happened here?"

It took Nikki a while to get what her partner meant.

"Charlie?"

"Charlie."

"Damn."

* * *

Everything was a bit blurred for Don. He knew that medics arrived and that they took Charlie with them to ambulance. He knew that he ordered them to check up on Molly, who seemed unhurt, but he needed to be sure. He knew he must have called Amita and Dad to tell them what happened and to which hospital Charlie was brought. He also knew he must have called Molly's parents.

He couldn't really remember doing all those things. He felt as if he observed himself from far away, all his real self focused on one piece of news, brought by David and Nikki.

_Charlie killed a man._

_I should have prevented it._

Even knowing there was no way he could have done that didn't eased his mind. He felt responsible for what happened. And he could only guess how responsible his brother will feel when he'll wake up. Probably a lot.

Don had no doubt about it, he knew Charlie.

* * *

_A/N: How did ya like it?_

_Sorry for the delay, real life has its funny way of interrupting... Only now, during Christmas I've got a little time._

_By the way, Merry Christmas for everyone celebrating it! Or Hannukah, or what else you're celebrating. I hope you've got good holidays :D  
_


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: Another one in such a short time! I'm pampering you, really._

_Disclaimer: If they belonged to me I wouldn't be there, right? I'd somewhere richer... and warmer... :D  
_

* * *

**BROKEN INNOCENCE**

**Chapter six  
**

Silence in the car was almost overwhelming. Although the agents headed to the FBI quarters, it was clear they wanted to go someplace else: the hospital, where Charlie was being taken care of. Don decided that one of his agents should accompany the mathematician to hospital and be in touch, had anything unexpected happened. All three volunteered, but Don choose Colby, who had been taking care of Charlie since he collapsed. Of course, what he truly wanted, was to go there personally. And then he assigned Nikki to go to hospital with Molly, who seemed to have some nasty bruises on her arms and first signs of post-traumatic disorder.

So the two of them drove ahead.

"It'll take us a few minutes, Don." David said, patting the steering wheel nervously. "The situation is clear and as soon as we'll wrap it up, you can go there."

"I know…" Don sighed a little. He just wished anyone of his Agents could handle all this paperwork and informing director Merrick about the conclusion of the case… Especially one that involved his little brother killing a man.

Again, the wave of guilt washed over him. He tried to compose himself by remembering the story told by Molly: the little girl described all that happened to her and Charlie and it soon became clear to everyone, that Charlie really had no other choice than to shoot that man… that monster.

But knowing that didn't lightened the weight Don felt in his heart. He felt personally responsible for his brother safety, and now he failed him. His little brother, his ingenious, but naïve Chuck was left alone in the mortal peril, and only his abilities combined with great deal of luck saved his life.

It was Don's job. Job he didn't succeeded in.

* * *

Amita wasn't the one to wait around. She decided to go to Charlie's home and wait there for any news, as well as accompany Alan if any news arrived there first. She was almost there when Don's call reached her. She listened when the agent explained to her in strangely calm and hollow voice what happened. The last few hundreds of meters were never that hard to drive through.

As soon as she entered the house, she saw Alan sitting in the chair, the phone in his hand, seemingly forgotten. He must have received a call as well. He was clearly unaware about his surrounding. It had taken her by surprise, to say the least.

She came closer to him, crouched by his chair, and took his hand in hers. It worked: Alan looked at her, but the look in his eyes spooked her.

After all these years Amita came to love Alan as her own father. She knew him quite good, and never saw him in distress. Now, to her shock, the older man looked insecure and lost. She needed to help him.

"Alan… He's okay…" She whispered, looking straight into his eyes. Strangled sob escaped his mouth, as he leaned to her, and hugged her, hard. She returned his hug and continued to whisper comforting words, while rocking him slightly,

Amazingly, while she was consoling the man, she herself felt the calmness washing over her. It wasn't the real peace of knowing that everything was okay, but she knew now, that whatever happened and will happen in future, they'll manage to overcome it.

Finally she let Alan go and went to kitchen to fetch him a glass of water and a tissue.

"Thank you." He managed to whisper, taking the items from her hands. He quickly wiped his eyes and drank the water. "Though I wouldn't mind something stronger."

She smiled a little. That man was incredible. After almost breaking down, he joked to light himself up. It was certainly quite good way to deal with something like that.

"I don't think it's the best idea, since we still need to get to hospital… And I don't think I'll be able to drive. I almost crashed twice before I got here."

He looked at her pensively, noticing her shaking hands and uncertain expression.

"All right, Amita. I'm good now. Let's go to Charlie."

She nodded

* * *

The darkness was everywhere. At first, he didn't minded it, it was comforting and peaceful, but soon he needed something more.

_Where does it end?_

He was very confused. He felt nothing, so he couldn't say whether he was lying immobile or standing or flying through this never-ending darkness. He tried to open his eyes, but wasn't sure if he succeeded: it was still dark.

_Two senses ruled out. Try something different._

He felt something nasty in his mouth, on his tongue. After thinking it through, he decided not to consider what could have had that effect. It was way too disgusting. Then he tried to breathe some air into his nostrils.

_Do I have any nostrils, though? I don't feel them…_

He felt clear air, mixed with some scent he knew he should recognize. It reminded him of something terribly sad and tragic… He knew he despised the scent like that and promised himself he'll never come back to…

_To what? _

He couldn't remember. On the other hand, maybe he didn't want to remember. Something that caused him so much pain…

_Four down, one to go…_

He concentrated as much as he could on his hearing. At first, he heard nothing. Then, some muffled sounds reached him, but he still felt as if he had a pound of wool stuck into his ears. He tried harder and harder. Finally he heard something that resembled words, but it took another few minutes – or maybe ages? – to decipher what those words meant.

"… was quite lucky. The damage isn't big, so we'll concentrate on his other wounds…"

_What those words meant, again?_

_Damage._

_Wounds._

Somewhere in his mind, the information added up and returned the sum.

_Pain._

The memories of pain inflicted by the murderer came back with full force, washing away all his other concerns. He remembered what he did.

_I wish I stayed in darkness…_

Suddenly he felt something, like a tiny needle.

And then, he was in the darkness again.

* * *

It took Don almost half an hour to wrap everything up, but he could now finally go to hospital, in assistance of his second in command. As soon as he entered it, the unwelcomed memories attacked him. The memories of his dying mother, who was treated in this very same hospital… He shook his head. He didn't want to think about this right now. But the truth was, he couldn't think about anything else, for that matter.

Thankfully David helped him out, asking about his brother and finding the room where he was.

He wasn't really surprised to see Dad and Amita staying beside Colby, and talking with grim-looking doctor. He felt rather relieved to see how all three of them, together. And although they all were looking melancholic, they weren't very concerned: clear sign that nothing was terrible wrong.

_Except for the obvious._

He silently greeted Dad, Amita and Colby and settled to listen to the doctor. His brother was treated for all his injuries: broken arm, some cracked ribs, a few cuts and a nasty bump on the back of his head. But the most severe was the state of his vocal chords. Fortunately the doctors were able to fix that. Charlie will just have to spare them in the next few weeks.

Then the doctor said that the mathematician was just brought to his room and they will be able to visit him in a few minutes.

"When will he wake up, doctor?"Amita asked.

"There's no way to tell that. He was give sedatives, so he'll be in drug-induced sleep for another hour or so. He may wake up after that hour, but also it may take him days. It really depends on his mental strength. He's gone through a lot."

"If by 'mental strength' you mean stubbornness, doctor, then you may be sure he'll wake up very soon." Alan muttered, making all smile and chuckle.

Don smiled a little too, despite the feeling of guilt still lurching inside him.

_What will happen once he's awake? Will he even be able to talk to us?_

But there was other question he couldn't help but ask over and over again.

_Charlie, will you be able to forgive me?_

_

* * *

_

_A/N: Nothing really intense going on here... But it isn't meant to, there will be some quite 'touching' moments, but no action, I think._

_Let me know if you liked it!_


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine. Although I wouldn't mind..._

_A/N: Here comes another chapter... Took me forever to desribe some of the emotions, but I'm glad of it. Enjoy!  
_

* * *

**BROKEN INNOCENCE**

**Chapter seven  
**

Nikki was never really motherly, and even if she thought about having a child, it certainly qualified as some abstract possibility in the far future. But now, as she was watching over Molly, she was startled to feel a warmness in her heart, something she haven't felt since she was a little kid. She observed the little girl as the doctors were taking care of her and she was now watching over the little girl who slept fitfully in the hospital bed, turning and whining.

Nikki smiled warmly – a sight that would cause her fellow agents to consider their sanity – and put her hand on Molly's forehead and cooed some comforting, senseless words. It visibly helped the girl, she calmed down and Nikki saw the peace on her face. The female agent smiled to herself again – this girl will be all right, she will take care of it.

Vaguely, Nikki wondered how Charlie was, she haven't heard anything from Don, or anyone else. In any other situation, she might have been offended by this lack of news, but when it came to this mathematician, she understood that people who she worked with cared for Charlie very much.

That was one thing that was the most visible to her, when she came from LAPD to FBI and started working with Don, David and Colby. At the beginning, she felt that the team was somehow incomplete. At first she thought it might have been the impact of loosing their profiler, Megan Revees, but as soon as she met Charlie and learned about his unusual way of soling crimes, she noticed the influence he had on the team. Once the mathematician could legally work with them, everything felt more complete and fluent. He was truly a part of the team, and having the possibility of turning to him for help made things easier in their group.

Of course, Don was the one who was most influenced by Charlie's return. He became more uninhibited, he often smiled and miraculously, the atmosphere in the Bureau seemed much more friendly to Nikki. Of course, it affected David and Colby too, although she would bet a hundred bucks that none of them would admit it.

Nikki got up and stretched a little. Her neck was stiff from sitting in one place. She walked around the room, peeked outside to see if anyone was walking to her, but there was no one. Worry about Charlie wormed it's way into her heart. She hoped someone would notify her about his state.

It startled her to feel like that. It seemed that after few months she became more attached to this guy than she thought. His smartness, his little metaphors became the part of Nikki's life and she couldn't imagine what would it do to her team to lose him – this time forever.

She sat back by Molly's bed, and silently, for the first time in years, she prayed.

* * *

Alan was more than grateful for Colby's and David's presence, as they waited in the corridor to be told where Charlie was. They were the only ones in their small group that preserved some presence of mind. He, Don and Amita were unable to comprehend what was going on. They knew what happened but somehow they couldn't, wouldn't understand. Each of them however reacted differently.

Alan was standing in place, nervously looking around himself, he clearly couldn't wait to see his son. His eyes traveled around the corridor, as he tried to recognize the doctor, who spoke with them earlier.

Amita was sitting in the chair, which conveniently was there. She had her knees up against her chest and she hugged them tightly. Her eyes were fixed at some point on the wall and she was visibly fighting tears. She didn't manage, though: a few drops were rolling down her cheeks, but she didn't seemed to notice that.

Don was pacing through the corridor, lost in his thoughts. He was obviously distressed, but he tried to conceal the main reason of it, his guilt. He didn't really know what he hoped for. He wanted to see his brother, sure, but all the while he was afraid of that. He wondered how he'll react too seeing his little brother on the hospital bed…

After some odd fifteen minutes they were directed to the room. Alan was the first who entered, then Amita came on, then Don and after him Colby and David.

Don sucked in his breath as he saw Charlie: lying still, unnaturally pale, his curls escaping from under the bandage on his head, spread on the pillow. He stepped closer and felt his legs shaking. Fortunately, the bed had a banister, which he used to support himself.

_He looks just like mum._

The unwanted memories of losing his mother returned to Don with vengeance. He remembered how she was lying on hospital bed, equally unmoving and pale. She, who was so full of life: she couldn't sit still for a five minutes, there was always something to do, place to go, work that needed to be done… Just like Charlie.

Don for the first time acknowledged the similarities between Charlie and mum, and he wasn't the only one.

Alan walked up to the bed and slowly, tentatively, he touched his son's good hand. Then he stroked the Charlie's curls, amazed at how they were alike to Margaret's. The sight of his youngest in hospital bed brought back the painful memories, but now he knew that Charlie was going to be all right. Now that he saw him, he knew what he had undergone, he felt better. He knew that there was a lot to come through, but he knew that they were going to be okay. All of them.

Alan took a look at his older son. The sight frightened him a little.

Don, who was always so calm and never showed his feelings had tears in his eyes. He was shaken by what he saw and… Alan wondered for a moment, what was that emotion he saw on Don's face? It took him a while to understand.

It was guilt.

Why Don was feeling guilty? He haven't done anything, he couldn't have. As far as Alan knew, the FBI was on the place as soon as they figured out which home was a target. It was just a bad luck, that Charlie was there. There was nothing he could do… Nothing to help his little brother.

Nothing at all.

* * *

Monica Dawson was never so shaken. She tried to comprehend what she and Matt found out, but everything was still unclear. The agent from the FBI called them and told that there was a break-in at their house and that their babysitter was dead. If that wasn't enough, their daughter was in hospital, although there was nothing wrong, she had just a few bruises. The agent insisted they came as fast as they could because of 'some things they had to discuss'.

"I wonder what really happened out there." Matt said when entering the hospital. "It's clear that agent wasn't telling all the truth."

"Yeah, I know… I wonder why, though…" She sighed resignedly.

They were directed to the room where their daughter was. When they entered, they saw a woman sitting beside the bed and watching over their daughter. She looked at them, surprised and got up to greet them.

"Hi, I'm agent Nikki Betancourt. Mr. and Mrs. Dawson, I suppose?" He extended her hand.

"Yeah, that's us." Matt said, shaking her hand, while his wife rushed to Molly. "Would you mind telling us what the hell happened?"

"Of course, let's take a seat." She indicated the chairs by the bed.

"How's she, agent Betancourt?" Monica asked with worry in her eyes.

"She's quite all right. Doctors aren't worried about her and right now she's just sleeping."

"But it's just five p.m." Matt said, looking at his watch. "Molly doesn't sleep when it's still bright, she's very stubborn that way…"

Nikki sighed.

"She's gone through quite a bit. I guess she may still be in shock… To tell you the truth, she's lucky she's alive."

"What!?" The Dawson's exclaimed in horror.

"Yes… " Nikki thought for a while, trying to organize her thoughts. "I guess I'll start from the beginning…"

She described the generals of the case, as well as the Bureau's inability to find the murderer. Then she mentioned that they had help of the greatest minds, professors from CalSci. That was when Monica broke from her reverie and interrupted her.

"Wait a second… Wasn't that Charlie Eppes that helped you? He mentioned something when we met that he was working on some awful case for his brother…"

"Yep, the very same Charlie Eppes, our resident genius." Nikki smiled a little, but her smile disappeared quickly. She remembered Charlie's whereabouts and understood suddenly that she'll have to break the news about Charlie's nearly dying to his close friend. She wasn't looking forward to it.

Nonetheless, she resumed her talking and described everything that happened that day. She observed how Monica's eyes became big when Nikki started describing the attack. When she was done, there was a minute of silence. Then Matt spoke up.

"So, you're saying… That Mon's friend actually saved our little girl's life? By killing that monster?"

"Yes." Nikki sighed. "He fought to save your daughter's life and innocence. And now, he's somewhere here in this hospital…"

"How's he?" Monica demanded, her eyes shining with tears.

"I have actually no idea… Don… I mean agent Eppes, Charlie's brother told me to stay with Molly and he haven't notified me about Charlie's state."

There were a few minutes of silence. And then they heard knocking at the door and Colby entered the room.

Nikki looked at him puzzled and jumped from her seat. She run to him.

"How's Charlie? Why the hell you left me in dark for so long?" She demanded fervently, completely surprising herself and Colby too.

"Hey, hey… Cool it, Nikki!"He placed his hands on her arms. "Charlie is okay, it'll take him some time to recover, but he's otherwise good."

Colby looked perplexed at Nikki's face, which was now full of relief. He never saw her that nervous and showing that she cared… About anything. It seemed that once someone got to know Charlie, they were quickly becoming very attached to this little mathematician.

"Thank God…" He heard the woman's voice. He looked at her and presented himself.

"I'm agent Colby Granger. You must be Monica Dawson? And you – Matt Dawson?" He asked.

"Yeah, that's us…" Monica sighed again. "You know, it's funny that everybody seems to know our name before we introduce ourselves."

"You can blame it on Charlie, Mrs. Dawson." Colby smiled a little. "If he haven't been bragging about your family being in possible danger…" He stopped for a moment, unsure, what to say. "Everything would have happened differently."

"That's true, agent." Matt intersected. "Our daughter would have been dead."

Colby nodded his head. There was nothing he could say to that statement, for it was the main and the most overwhelming – truth.

* * *

Don was sitting still by his brother bedside. He sometimes reached out to touch his hand, or hair, but he couldn't actually manage it. He observed Charlie's face and remembered all the good and bad times they had together. Sometimes, some particularly painful memory would hit him, and he tried his best to conceal his distress at those moments. He remembered all the times he pushed Charlie away in high school, the times when he would barely talk on phone with him while he was gone to Fugitive Recovery, the times when he was so mad at his little brother for abandoning their mom at her last moths of life…

This one was the worst of all. He didn't understood Charlie then, not really. Neither he could now, but he could admit he was now closer to it than then. He couldn't understand Charlie's retreating to his own, small world of numbers. Now he knew it was just his way of coping. He should have talked with him then, instead of yelling and accusing him of lack of heart…

Don hoped his little brother wasn't going to retreat now.

He looked around him. There were only three of them left: he, Amita and Dad. Amita was sitting with her head rested on Alan's shoulder, fast asleep. She was tired after all this work and recovering from shock that her beloved Charlie was nearly killed. When she finally gave up in her fight with tears, she cried for almost half an hour.

_Dad comforted her_, Don thought with smile, _they both were very helpful to each other and it seems that Amita is now really part of the Eppes household…_

Don's agents left a while ago, after Nikki came to see Charlie and brought Monica Dawson. The woman was quite shocked, Don remembered, to see Charlie lying still on the bed… As all of them were. When all four of them left, promising, they'll visit again tomorrow, Monica even mentioned she'll probably bring her family with her.

Don sighed quietly, getting up and walking up to his father and picking up the paper: Alan fell asleep too and the paper he's been reading, slid out of his hands.

Exactly in the moment when Don placed the paper on the table, he heard something from behind him. He spun quickly and walked back to the bed, delighted to see Charlie's opened eyes.

"Charlie… you woke up." He muttered, sitting by him and putting his hand on his brother's forehead. There was nothing o stop him now… He needed to take care of Chuck.

"Donnie…" Charlie whispered almost inaudibly. "You are here…"

Don felt the tears coming to his eyes. His brother didn't blamed him, he wanted him to be close.

"Shhh… Buddy, don't talk, okay? You must rest, you know?"

Charlie looked him straight into eyes, surely noticing the shining tears and the sorrow behind them. His own eyes were full of joy, but suddenly he must have remembered what happened, because the look in his eyes changed to remorseful and sad.

"Donnie… I…" He tried to speak, but he couldn't. The pain in his throat was almost unbearable when he tried to use his vocal chords.

"Yeah, Buddy, I know…" Don understood what Charlie meant to say. _I killed a man._ The pang of guilt hit him again, but he soon fought it back. His brother needed him, he needed to be reassured that what he did, wasn't bad, that it didn't made him a bad man. "I know how hard it must be for you, but if you haven't done what you did, you'd be dead, Buddy." Don's voice was now thick because of all the tears he fought. "And I couldn't take that, Charlie… I wouldn't stand loosing you…"

Charlie's eyes were full of tears too. He tried to speak again, but all he could do was moving his mouth: no sound was heard, but Don understood what his little brother meant to say.

"I love you too, Buddy. Go back to sleep."

For now, all was right in their world.

* * *

_A/N: Well? How did you like it?_

_I'm trying to share the time evenly between all of the characters, but some of them are harder to understand, especially Nikki, who we don't really know yet. But well, I love challenges :D_

_I suppose we're nearing the end, this story's already took more chapters than I expected it too. Sometimes I wonder if it has its own life, because I feel like it's getting out of my control and words are just appearing on my screen... Funny, isn't it?  
_


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine._

_A/N: Sorry for the terrible delay, the explanation is in the a/n under the story. For now, have a nice reading!  
_

* * *

**BROKEN INNOCENCE**

**Chapter eight  
**

Charlie's second awakening was similar to the first one: Don was there, sitting beside the bed, reading something. He haven't noticed yet that his brother was awake, so Charlie took advantage of that situation and studied Don's face.

When they were kids, Charlie could almost always tell what his big brother was feeling. He wasn't a good actor back then and couldn't conceal what he felt: Don's face was an open book to Charlie, so he knew when he was welcomed and when Don wanted to be left alone. Of course after they lost touch with each other, there was no occasions to analyze him, but when they began to work together, Charlie slowly began to rediscover his childhood ability.

It was different now, though. Charlie was now more easily distracted with all his work and he sometimes was too focused on other things than reading subtle lines and noticing soft changes of expression that translated to particular feelings. On the other hand, Don wasn't a teenager anymore, he was a mature, dedicated FBI agent, fully capable of concealing almost all his feelings, able to fool everyone around him.

But now, Don visibly seemed to think that there was no one around him that he needed to fool. His usual mask of tough agent fell off, revealing the true face of Don Eppes: concerned big brother.

Charlie smiled a little, seeing this change in Don's face, that was an expression Don sometimes let him see: a bit of pride of his little brother, amusement, and a pinch of anger. All of that correlated to one undeniable feeling, which was concern for Charlie.

But there was something else, too. Charlie had some problems with deciphering that expression, but soon he realized what it was.

Don felt guilty.

Although his mind was still fuzzy from long sleep, Charlie almost immediately understood why Don felt like this. All those ever-existing big brother instincts always kicked in when he was in possible danger. And Charlie knew that Don wanted to protect him from bad side-effects of his working for the FBI.

Charlie sighed a little. It wasn't going to be easy, to convince Don that what happened, wasn't really his fault.

The sound must have captured Don's attention. He raised his head and saw Charlie, wide awake and smiling at him.

"Well, look, who's awake." He smiled back at his younger brother. "We're beginning to wonder if you're gonna sleep another twenty-four hours."

"Ho long was I out?" Charlie asked, pulling himself up. He discovered that his throat wasn't so achy as it was before, and he could speak almost normally.

"It's been almost full day since you've been awake."

"Don't tell me you've been here all the time." Charlie raised his eyebrow.

"Nope, we've been taking turns. Amita was here in the morning, Dad was in the afternoon, he left about an hour ago."

"Seems like you couldn't wait for me to be awake." Charlie smirked at unsure expression on Don's face, which soon cleared.

"You know, we just couldn't wait till you get out of here, so that you could work at CalSci… and Dad could pester you at home instead of here."

"Yeah, right."

They both chuckled. Then the friendly silence feel and Charlie sat back, closing his eyes, and Don returned to his paper. After few minutes, Charlie broke the silence.

"It's not your fault, you know."

The paper fell to the floor, as Don looked at his younger brother in bewilderment.

"How…"

"Did I know? C'mon, Donnie, you couldn't be more obvious that you feel guilty. But there's no need to."

"I should have done something, Charlie. Hell, if I were quicker… If I knew…"

"But you didn't know. There was no way for you to know. I tried to call you but there was simply no time." Charlie looked at his older brother. "I made a decision to go to this home and I suffered consequences…" His hand went to his throat, his eyes became foggy as he remembered what happened to him.

"Charlie…" Don's eyes were bright, too bright.

"Don, if it weren't for everything I learned from you during those years we worked together, I would have been dead right now. Thanks to you I knew how to defend myself, and when it came to making the hard decision, I made it. And I wouldn't make it any other way."

"I just wish you didn't have to." Don whispered.

"So do I. But, Donnie, what's done, is done. So let's don't worry about it anymore, okay? I don't think there was anything we could have done differently."

The silence fell again. But it was other kind of silence. The atmosphere was lighter, as if somehow the talk, filled with emotions was the breeze, which cleared the air. Don felt the weight of the burden he felt, disappear. He felt a lot better, although the guilt wasn't all gone yet. But he knew that he was going to overcome it. How could he not, having such a great little brother counting on him?

* * *

The next day Charlie was released from hospital. The same day, there was a party at Craftman house. There was the Eppes family, Amita, Larry, Don's team, and Dawson family.

Charlie, still a bit weak, sat in the comfy armchair with Molly cuddled to him, as they talked vigorously. Amita and Larry watched them, along with Monica and Matt, who declared his head hurt from only listening to all those mathematical concepts. The rest sat by table, but sometimes they would listen to the little girl who talked so lively.

Charlie felt really relaxed, sitting here with all the people he cared about. That was the only thing he needed right now to recover.

Suddenly, as they switched the topic to the three-dimensional geometry, Molly fell silent and her face clouded.

"What's up little math guy?" Charlie asked, concerned.

"You know… Pfessor Charlie…" Molly mumbled, but then her voice gained strength. "When we were there… I found in the box this different blocks… Cones, cubes, cylinders… I threw them at him… One must have hit him pretty hard, 'cause he yelled and hold his head…"

Charlie looked at Molly. He almost forgot that this little girl almost went through a hell. Of course she had help from a psychiatrist, but she needed a constant reassurance right now. A help.

He smiled a little. He had just a thing in mind.

"Listen to me, Molly. You did great. In fact… Attention, please!" He shouted to everyone and they looked at him. "I would like to make an announcement and honor this little lady right here." He smiled at Molly. "This brave girl is a real hero. She saved my life. And for that I would like to raise glass for her." He did just that. "For Molly, a hero."

"For Molly!" Everyone repeated, smiling. And Molly burst into tears and hugged Charlie. Amita came closer to them, kissed her on head and whispered a few words, which made Molly smile. Molly's parents sat close to them, smiling proudly.

The rest of guests observed them, resuming their talks.

"You see here, what I see, dad?" Don indicated the group of three, grouped on the chair.

"If you see a great possibility for me to become a grandfather…" Alan broke into a huge smile. "Yeah, I can see that."

Colby nudged David.

"I bet you fifty bucks, they're gonna have a kid before this year ends."

David ran a hand over his bald head, looked at Amita, Molly and Charlie.

"No way, man."

Don, Alan, Nikki, Colby and Larry looked at him as if he lost his mind. David smiled.

"There's no way I bet against a sure thing."

**THE END**

**

* * *

**_A/N: And here it is! The last part!_

_I'm terribly sorry I haven't updated for so long, I was busy with my end-of-term exams... But now, as a student of the fourth semester of Mathematics I've got plenty of free time. So I decided to end this fic, then I'll move to "Special Assignment"._

_Hope you liked this little story, considering it was my first one, I'm pretty proud that you were there. And thank you for all your comments, they kept me going! Thank you all!  
_


End file.
